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Saturday, 1 April 2017

Sunday, April 2, 2017 - Hope, not despair - life, not death

Why
do we keep visiting the old and infirm and those in hospitals when we have no
miracle drug to take away their pain? Why do we commit ourselves to the
political process when there is so much cynicism and a malaise of despair in
politics today? Why does the Church, through her priests, religious and laity,
continue to reach out to those in need despite the tremendous opposition by
vested interests and the attempts at destruction of those works by those who
cannot bear to see the poor get their due and rights? The prime reason is
because we continue to believe that God is still in charge, and so we hope that
with his help we will overcome.

“The
smell of death is everywhere. The pictures you see on TV do not tell the whole
story. You only see the devastation in those pictures. But when you are here,
you not only see the devastation, but you smell it, no matter where you go or
what you do.” This is how those who visited the areas devastated by the tsunami
described the scene time after time.

This
could also be a description of what Ezekiel may have felt; when the Lord
challenged him to see that he would open the graves of the dead of Israel and
restore them to life again. Yet, the Lord did indeed act in accord with his
word and life was restored. Death – the absence of the breath of God’s spirit -
was transformed to life by the life-giving spirit of God. Ezekiel realized that
there was no limit to God’s Power to save and that everything was possible for
God. He continued to hope ad communicated this hope to all of Israel. Even in
exile in Babylon, Israel must not give in to despair, but hope. The Psalmist
expresses this hope in the Lord. He is so confident of the mercy of God and his
power that even from the depths of despair he knows that the Lord will hear his
cry for help.

Martha,
the sister of Lazarus, despite her verbal acceptance of Jesus as the
Resurrection and the Life, did not accept that her brother would be raised and
brought back to life again. This is why when Jesus asks for the stone to be
removed from the tomb, her focus is on the smell of death. The reason for
Jesus’ great distress was probably not because the people did not believe that
he, who stood among them, was the source of life, not even because he was
forced to perform a miracle in public with the crowd present, but in all
probability because of what sin and death had done to humanity, They had
succeeded in robbing humanity of hope. The tears that Jesus sheds, while being
an acknowledgement of what sin and death are capable of doing, are not tears of
despair. Physical death is indeed difficult to accept but it surely is not the
end. Thus, we are not asked not to weep, but only not to give in to despair,
not to lose hope.

However
tempting it might be, however human, however understandable, hopeless despair
is not a Christian way of living. However painful our circumstances, and
however agonizing our honest questions – about job loss, wayward children, financial
disaster, chronic sickness, destruction of works and institutions that have
been painstakingly built, false allegations made by vested interests –
ultimately things will get worse, for nothing can compare to the horrible
specter of death that await us all. But Christian faith believes that God in
Christ will conquer and transform even death, the ultimate enemy.

Paul’s
letter to the Romans talks about the same Spirit of God that gives life. He
explains that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us and
is responsible for giving us life. As we near the end of Lent, we are being
reminded that God’s Spirit is the source of our life as a community. We are not
only being prepared for Christ’s resurrection but our own.

We
can make some choices about how we get to Easter. We can choose to focus on the
things of the world that distract us and drain our life from us. We can choose
to discriminate against some, because they are different or think differently.
We can go for those things that offer a false sense of power based on material
things. We can choose to believe that we are individually more important than
who we are together, as a family.

Or,
we can be restored by allowing the Spirit of God to give us life. We can choose
to live as Jesus lived. We can live our call to be a community of faith focused
on the strength of our unity. We can give ourselves over to be restored by
letting those things that separate us from God and each other die and be
resurrected in Spirit to life as faithful believers. The choice rests with us.

About Me

There are four maxims I try to live by. The first is to ALWAYS have CHOICES about everything. The more choices I have, the less the chances of my being disappointed.
The Second is that I try to see my REWARD in the doing of the action itself. I will expect nothing from anyone in return and even expect the very ones I have helped to be ungrateful. It does not matter. I do not mind.
The third is that every stage in my life I try to KNOW where my authority ends. This saves a lot of bother. I am not the General Manager of the Universe. I do what I have to do and leave the rest to God.
The fourth is a readiness to face the consequences of my action. When I make a gaffe I am willing to rectify it and apologize. However, if it cannot be rectified I am ready to face the penalty.